Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals
Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals is a video game expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon 2 released October 17, 2007 . This expansion pack follows the other expansion packs, Endangered Species, African Adventure and Marine Mania. Extinct Animals replaces, and includes the similar Dino Danger Pack premium download. Pre-release During 2006, in a similar way to how the African Adventure expansion was first confirmed, Amazon.com listed a strategy guide for Extinct Animals under its listings. Curiously, it was listed as "Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct (working title)" , showing Blue Fang Games were still in very early production and had not yet thought of a title. Nevertheless, in January 2007, Windows Vista released its 2007 gaming lineup as well as a promotional video featuring a few seconds of footage. Later, during April, Games for Windows added an Extinct Animals page to their website and revealed several new pieces of information such as box art and animal confirmations. The text that was shown was in fact the same as in the previous ''Endangered Species'' expansion . On May 24, a press release was released on the official Zoo Tycoon website revealing that Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals will be released in "fall" with a total of 30 animals, making it the largest Zoo Tycoon 2 expansion pack to date. When June arrived another press release reveled Extinct Animals would be released on 17 October, 2007 in the UK and all of Europe. When E3 arrived, Games for Windows and Blue Fang Games released a 2nd promotional video of several new features and a set of screenshots. The Extinct Animals Games for Windows page was also edited with screenshots and new information. The Zoo Tycoon website, however, was still not updated for E3. In August, Blue Fang released an official trailer showing many of the main features of the expansion, including sonar detection for fossils and minigames to clone creatures, as well as confirming several animals . In the same month Blue Fang employees on several fansites began releasing new information, confirming a total of eight unseen animals. Gameplay Minigames Several new minigames (similar to the trick training games in Marine Mania) are included. These are, as follows: locating fossils, curing diseases, cloning animals, building skeleton jigsaws and tranquilizing dinosaurs. Dino rampage This mode is only available when a dinosaur becomes upset with its living conditions. This causes it to go on a rampage, where it will destroy its exhibit, then break out and attempt to destroy the zoo. However, the player can prevent such disasters by locating the problem and then entering tranquilizer mode. In this mode the player is holding a tranquilizer gun and can aim at the problemed dinosaur. The player must wait for the gun to charge up, whilst keeping a steady aim. Once the gun is fully charged, the spacebar can be used to temporarily put the animal to sleep. If the player was to move the gun off target whilst still charging up or fully charged up the gun, the charger will begin to move down again. Once the aim is re-established, the player can fire. This feature puts Zoo Tycoon 2 under the first-person shooter category of games, possibly demoting it slightly from its fame among the family friendly world, although moving it up into the teen section. The gun itself is a large disentergrater cannon with an exaggerated blast tank, which, in the earlier screenshots, had painted on the tank. However, this was later removed. The other option for the player is to hire a "Dino Capture Team". The team come in the form of a large building with two golden dinosaur statues on its roof. When a dinosaur starts rampaging, the team will leave their building and set out to tranquilize the problem. The team consist of three units; the "Dino Capture Robot", and two other employees. The robot will begin beeping and distracting the beast whilst his ally shoots it with a tranquilizer. Once the dinosaur is restrained, the third unit will approach the dinosaur and crate it, ready to be released back into its enclosure. Creating animals Fossil finding To begin, the player must purchase an Extinct Animal Research Lab, and then enter 'fossil finding mode'. The player must then find fossils using a hand held sonar device, which beeps when a fossil is nearby. Once the player has achieved the required number of bones, one must return to the Research Lab for the next step. The player can get upgrades for the sonar device as his star rating increases, which also unlocks the fossils of additional animals. The player must also dig up a majority of the bones, as paleontologists will occasionally abandon a dig site to continue searching for new ones. The player can jump to the dig site using the zoo map. Fossil building Then the hunter can enter the lab and put the fossils together like a jigsaw puzzle. Using the '<' and '>' keys, the player can rotate each piece of fossil to fit into the skeleton. Once completed, the player can then move on to the cloning stage. Extinct animals creation This is then followed by the cloning stage, also within the Research Lab. This minigame is more similar to ''Marine Mania's'' trick training game. The player uses a scanner to analyze the DNA, while pressing the left mouse button and arrow keys. Once this is completed, the player can clone the animal in question for no price at any time, but must repeat the DNA minigame to do so. If the player gathers a low score in the minigame, an unlockable animal, usually a deformed version of an ambient animals, is given instead. Also during the DNA minigame, if 90% or higher accuracy is achieved, a super animal will be created. The name of the animal will be 'Super' followed by the animal name and number. Super animals are slightly larger than their original size, get ill less often and instead of the regular circle around the animal when it is selected, a DNA symbol with a star surrounds the animal. By the gender of the animal in the animal's stats tab, a test tube symbol will signal a super animal. It is impossible to purchase super animals or by breeding two normal animals. However, if one breeds a super animal with either a normal or super animal, the offspring will occasionally be one. Disease curing Occasionally an animal will catch a (completely fictional) disease (including "Pink Elephant Disease", "Blood Lust", "Litter Bug", etc.). The player is requested to enter "disease curing" mode, a module where the player must help cure the disease. The player must take a sample of the infected animal by pushing the spacebar. The player must locate the cause of the disease, generally in or near the animal exhibit. The player then takes a sample of the object. Meanwhile, the research lab "scientists" will start researching the problem, while the player can gather tips from them by pressing the 'H' key, the more the player uses hints the lower the reward is. The player can then find the cure, which is generally an object outside or away from the exhibit, and inoculate the affected animal(s). This process can also be done for the player with the help of a zoo keeper. In-game humor Extinct Animals has many in-game jokes. The unlockable "killer penguin" is a reference to the original Zoo Tycoon game, where penguins could kill any herbivore, although Extinct Animals version can kill any animal. The fact that the penguin is from Madagascar may be a reference to the agent penguins from [[Madagascar (film)|the film Madagascar]]. Sometimes the killer penguin will appear in the research lab, replacing the scientist. In the Killer Penguin's Zoopedia entry, one of the fun facts states that "If someone offer you a penguin for free, you should say no". In challenge mode, sometimes a message come and states that a zoologist has found a penguin wandering in Arctic, and offer it to your zoo for free. The penguin is really a Killer Penguin, which is why the player should say no if offered a free penguin. The glacier temperature object will occasionally have a caveman frozen inside. . As the glacier melts, the caveman will thaw out and then act like a guest before leaving the zoo. Inside the Stokesosaurus's Zoopedia, it states that the creature wears glasses. This will indeed happen in the game when an easel is put in its exhibit but only on the correct settings. http://img144.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stokespc3.jpg Content , Dino Danger and Extinct Animals T-rexes]] Animals There is a total of 36 animals in this expansion pack, including the two unlockable ones with proper stats. The Dino Danger Pack animals are included, and all are updated. The Dino Danger animals are the only meshable animals, with the exception of the Ankylosaurus. Unlockable animals These animals can be unlocked either by completing a goal (the quagga), or by achieving a score between 10% and 50% in the animal creation minigame. None of them besides the killer penguin and quagga have a zoopedia entry and proper stats. Animal biomes As explained by Blue Fang employee Keith Carpentier on a Zoo Tycoon fansite, "Extinct animals aren't fully happy with correct biomes. Since extinct animals have not been around for quite a while, the climates in your zoo just are not quite what they are used to, so even when they are placed in their recommended biome, their environmental need won’t quite be satisfied. The animals require ''"temperature-changing" objects to be placed inside the animals' exhibit. These are tar pits to raise temperatures, glaciers to lower temperatures, and mist fountains to raise humidity. These will work for non-extinct animals as well as their extinct counterparts. According to Carpentier, the items will "give the player a lot more options when it comes to making mixed animal exhibits." Objects *Saber tooth cat Entertainer *Play Dig pit *Dinosaur entertainer *Prehistoric themed educator *Entertainer Stage *Caveman in ice *Jungle cave *Palaeotoligist *Imperial Mammoth skeleton *Prehistoric themed buildings *Extinct animals research lab *Extinct Theme *Glacier *Misty Spring *Tar pit *Pterosaur skeleton *Dino fence *Extinct symbol *Size Comparison Mural *Irish Elk skeleton *Dodo Rock *Small Elephant log *Roots *Cave paintings *Exinct Education center *Dinosaur Capture Team bunker *Brachiosaurus slide *Dino danger food (Dinosaur meat and Cycad leaves) (Please add in some more objects and items if you see some of them in this game) Category:Official games